SP Business School

SP Business School

DBID- SIA’s Product Innovation Team Lands at SP , a recount by DBID 2nd year student by Jereme Tan

4 DBID Students Earned a Trip to Rochester Minnesota

In September 2013, 4 Diploma in Business Innovation and Design (DBID) students were selected by their lecturers and client, Inno4, to attend a conference on health care conference called TRANSFORM. It was organized by the prestigious Mayo Clinic and brought together some the best and brightest speakers to share their updates and insights on how the pressing issue of healthcare could be better managed in the near and immediate future. The students were selected based on the experience in previous module, Emotional Intelligence and Empathy and Business Design Process. Both modules involved a client (Inno4) project that investigated the needs of caregivers in managing the health care of the elderly in Singapore.
These students had not only learnt more about the latest health care trends, but were also invited to present their insights from their research on the pressing needs that caregivers have in Singapore. Samuel Lim, a student, shares his reflections:-

Samuel is on extreme right with his fellow DBID students, Su Shan, Yi Lu and Zhi Rong from the left.

“When I first heard about the news, I was very surprised as I really didn’t expect to be chosen for the trip. Fast forward to the day of arrival in the good ol’ US of A, I was greeted by the blazing sun and hot weather! I was expecting nice cool weather actually.
It was my first time in the United States and I was pleasantly surprised by the courtesy and general friendliness of the Americans. Almost virtual strangers would greet you and even ask how your day was going. I liked it. This warmth wasn’t something that could be experienced in Singapore. Only people you know greet you. I actually thought to myself: “Why wasn’t Singapore like this?” This community actually stood out. Also, the night life in Rochester was rather quiet. We went out after 9 pm in search for a place to have our dinner and found the streets were empty. It was quiet - a culture shock! In Singapore, even in the wee hours of the morning you can see people on the streets.
The conference was a very enriching experience. It was my first time attending a conference. To be surrounded by the leading experts in healthcare and hearing what they have to say about the trends in America really set me thinking about Singapore’s healthcare as well. How do they stack up against each other? Were the solutions presented or problems raised applicable to Singapore?
These were some of the questions that I asked myself, while constantly learning new things with every talk. The conference opened my eyes to something very important in our world: Healthcare. I’m usually occupied with my games and studies and so, I don’t really think about world issues like healthcare. Some of the things that really caught my attention were the use of comics in healthcare, like how they use them to convey important information through an informal and well received medium. Everybody likes comics but who would have thought of using them for such a serious issue like healthcare.
Our presentation to the Mayo Clinic staff went well. I was very impressed with the people there. Firstly, they gave us their full attention, not even looking away once. These people actually think on the spot! One even said that when we were presenting, he was already thinking of solutions to our problems and even thinking of how he could improve them. That, to me was just so very impressive. Well, some might say this was to be expected with adults. I beg to differ. They were professionals, and the ideas that they came up with were interesting, for example, installing an electronic device to alert the caregiver of the elderly’s status.
Overall, I felt this trip was a great exposure to me as a student, both academically and culturally.”